Integrally Molded Protective Shin Guard Barrier - Patent 6105164

The present invention relates to an integrally molded solid protective casing, or outer barrier of a shin guard, which itself has a enclosed barrier space serving as a buffering room in which air is compressed.When a player plays in a sport competition, in order to ensure the safety in playing, the player must wear suitable protective equipments such as a helmet, an elbow guard, a shin guard, etc. The existing shin guard generally includes a soft innerlining and an outer protective casing fixed connected with outer side of the inner lining. The inner lining is located on the shin of a user to embrace the shin. The outer protective casing serves to bear the impact of external force so as to protectthe shin of the player from being injured by the external force. Most of the existing outer protective casings are made of plastic plate as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The protective casing B is combined with the soft inner lining S. Conventionally, theprotective casing B is formed with reinforcing concave and convex stripes for increasing the strength against impact force. However, in the sport, the impact always takes place instantaneously and the time for distributing the impact stress is limited. Even though the plastic plate of the protective casing B is formed with concave and convex stripes for increasing the strength against the impact, the impact stress will reversely concentrate on the boundary of the concave and convex stripes formed onthe surface of the protective casing B. This makes the protective casing B subject to breakage due to the impact. Therefore, the protection effect provided by the shin guard is reduced.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an integrally molded solid protective casing of a shin guard with a enclosed barrier space. The solid protective casing is made of plastic material and integrally molded into asolid casing defining therein a enclosed barrier space. When an outer side of t

United States Patent: 6105164
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United States Patent
6,105,164
Huang
August 22, 2000
Integrally molded protective shin guard barrier
Abstract
An integrally molded solid protective casing of a shin guard with a close
space. The solid protective casing is made of plastic material and
integrally molded into a solid casing defining therein a close space. When
an outer side of the protective casing is impacted by external force, a
gas in the close space is compressed to buffer the external force impact
and thus reduce injury of a user's shin.
Inventors:
Huang; Ming-Chao (Taipei, TW)
Assignee:
Excellence Sporting Goods Co., Ltd.
(Taipei,
TW)
Appl. No.:
09/303,650
Filed:
May 3, 1999
Current U.S. Class:
2/22 ; 2/DIG.3
Current International Class:
A63B 71/12&nbsp(20060101); A63B 71/08&nbsp(20060101); A41D 013/06&nbsp()
Field of Search:
2/22-24,20,16,19,161.1,911,455,DIG.3,DIG.10,410-414 602/23,62
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
871760
November 1907
Long
1726939
September 1929
Anderson
3784985
January 1974
Conroy
4001953
January 1977
Fugere et al.
4134156
January 1979
Gyory
4379754
April 1983
Donzis
5405312
April 1995
Jacobs
5551084
September 1996
Freese
5911310
June 1999
Bridgers
Primary Examiner: Hale; Gloria M.
Assistant Examiner: Patel; Tejash
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A protective outer barrier for guarding a shin of a user from forceful contact comprising:
(a) a substantially planar inner side portion formed of a composition containing a plastic material; and,
(b) a resiliently deformable outer side portion integrally formed with said inner side portion, said outer side portion having a predetermined contour and extending at least partially over said inner side portion for receiving the forceful
contact;
said outer and inner portions defining therebetween an enclosed barrier space, said enclosed barrier space being at least partially inflated with a gaseous composition for adaptive deformation responsive to deformation of said outer side portion.
2. The protective barrier as recited in claim 1 further comprising an inflation valve coupled to at least one of said inner and outer side portions, said inflation valve having an outlet communicating with said enclosed barrier space.
3. The protective barrier as recited in claim 1 wherein said outer side portion is arcuate in contour.
4. The protective barrier as recited in claim 3 wherein said outer side portion includes an intermediate region protruding in bulbous manner relative to said inner side portion.
5. The protective barrier as recited in claim 3 further comprises a solid material contained within said enclosed barrier space. Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an integrally molded solid protective casing, or outer barrier of a shin guard, which itself has a enclosed barrier space serving as a buffering room in which air is compressed.
When a player plays in a sport competition, in order to ensure the safety in playing, the player must wear suitable protective equipments such as a helmet, an elbow guard, a shin guard, etc. The existing shin guard generally includes a soft inner
lining and an outer protective casing fixed connected with outer side of the inner lining. The inner lining is located on the shin of a user to embrace the shin. The outer protective casing serves to bear the impact of external force so as to protect
the shin of the player from being injured by the external force. Most of the existing outer protective casings are made of plastic plate as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The protective casing B is combined with the soft inner lining S. Conventionally, the
protective casing B is formed with reinforcing concave and convex stripes for increasing the strength against impact force. However, in the sport, the impact always takes place instantaneously and the time for distributing the impact stress is limited.
Even though the plastic plate of the protective casing B is formed with concave and convex stripes for increasing the strength against the impact, the impact stress will reversely concentrate on the boundary of the concave and convex stripes formed on
the surface of the protective casing B. This makes the protective casing B subject to breakage due to the impact. Therefore, the protection effect provided by the shin guard is reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an integrally molded solid protective casing of a shin guard with a enclosed barrier space. The solid protective casing is made of plastic material and integrally molded into a
solid casing defining therein a enclosed barrier space. When an outer side of the protective casing is impacted by external force, a gas in the enclosed barrier space is compressed to buffer the external force impact and thus reduce the likelihood of
injury to user's shin.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional protective casing of a shin guard;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view according to FIG. 1, showing the instant of impact on the conventional protective casing;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the solid protective casino of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view according to FIG. 4, showing the instant of external force impact on the outer side of the solid protective casing;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a third embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Please refer to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. The integrally molded solid protective casing 100 of the shin guard of the present invention is made of plastic material and specifically integrally molded to define a enclosed barrier space 10. When the outer
side 11 of the solid protective casing suffers impact of external force, the close space 10 is compressed to buffer the impact so as to reduce the injury of the shin of the user.
The solid protective casing 100 can be fixedly connected to the inner lining 2 of the shin guard by hook-loop fastening belts. Alternatively, the protective casing 100 can be directly adhered to or seamed on the inner lining 2 of the shin guard. When a user wears the inner lining 2 on the shin 5, the solid protective casing 100 matches and embraces the front side of the shin 5 so as to resist against the external force impact coming from front side.
An end edge of the solid protective casing 100 is inserted with an inflation valve 13 having an outlet 131 extending into the close space 10 of the protective casing 100. After an inflation needle 132 is inserted from outer side into the
inflation valve 13, the enclosed barrier space 10 of the protective casing 100 can be inflated or deflated so as to adjust the pressure in the enclosed barrier space 10 as necessary.
As shown in FIG. 5, when the outer side 11 of the solid protective casing is impacted by an external force P and compressed and deformed, the air A in the enclosed barrier space 10 of the protective casing 100 near the forced point will quickly
spread around so as to greatly buffer the external force and make the inner side of the solid protective casing evenly suffer the force without deformation due to the external force. Therefore, the inner side 12 of the protective casing 100 can still
plainly attach to the inner lining 2 of the shin guard. Accordingly, the external force P is distributed so as to avoid injury of the user's shin 5 due to the external force.
The solid protective casing 100 of the present invention is integrally molded so that it has better strength. When suffering external force impact, the periphery of the protective casing 100 is not subject to cracking so that the using life of
the shin guard is prolonged.
FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the solid protective casing 100a which defines a enclosed barrier space 10 therein and is free from the inflation valve 13 of the above embodiment. When the outer side of the protective casing 100a is impacted
by an external force, the air A in the totally enclosed barrier space 10 is compressed so as to buffer the external force. FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the solid protective casing 100b in which a buffer material 10a such as a foam sponge or
the like is filled in the enclosed barrier space 10 for increasing the buffering effect for the external force.
As shown in FIG. 3, the face of the outer side 11 of the protective casing can be formed with an arch face with versatile curvatures so as to increase the strength of the surface of the outer side of the protective casing. Alternatively, the
outer side of the protective casing can be formed with a plane face.
According to the above arrangement, the present invention has advantages as follows:
The solid protective casing of the shin guard of the present invention is integrally molded to define therein a enclosed barrier space 10. When outer side of the protective casing is impacted by external force, the gas in the close space is
compressed to buffer the external force impact and thus reduce injury of a user's shin 5.
The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above
embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
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